Conventional headlights fail to efficiently capture much of the light emitted from a light source. That is, conventional headlights unnecessarily waste emitted light from a light source. For example, some conventional headlights are arranged such that the light source is pointed rearwardly so that light is emitted toward a base and subsequently reflected outwardly. However, this arrangement has a tendency to block the reflected light and decrease the overall efficiency of the headlight. This is at least because the light source of conventional rearward facing, or otherwise inward facing, headlights may include additional components (such as a heat sink) that increase the amount of blocked light as light reflects outwardly, since these components occupy space within the headlight.
Furthermore, the above mentioned light blocking issue is further compounded as headlights become smaller. For example, a conventional headlight with a given-sized light source and heat sink will block a certain percentage of reflected light. As the same conventional headlight decreases in size while the size of the light source and the heat sink remain the same, the light source and heat sink occupy a greater proportion of light, and thus block more light compared to larger headlights. Therefore, the issues associated with light blocking increase as a headlight decreases in size due to the relative sizes of the components.
While some conventional headlights may include lenses, conventional lenses are typically unable to produce the fine light patterns to form at least one of a high beam pattern, a low beam pattern, or a fog pattern. This may be due to, in part, the location of the lens and the particular shape and size of the lens itself.
For example, conventional headlights that do include a lens have light-blocking issues because the light source, the lens, and the other associated components have a tendency to interfere with each other. Interference occurs, in part, because of their relative arrangements of the components within conventional headlights.
Some conventional headlights may include cones that result in several additional, and somewhat similar, shortcomings as the above mentioned headlights. In addition to the interference issues discussed above, the cones of conventional headlights often include surfaces that are difficult to mold. These cones may also be relatively large, bulky, and heavy. Some of the cones used in conventional headlights may also include a lens attached to an outermost edge. However, these conventional lenses cannot form the three common light patterns for a headlight.
Notably, an inverse relationship exists between the size of the optical components (i.e., the components that form light patterns) and the ability to form a sharp, small light pattern. For example, both fog patterns and low beam patterns require sharp, small light patterns.
Thus, the inverse relationship limitation attributes to the excessive weight and bulkiness found in conventional lenses, as larger optical components are often presumed to be required. These conventionally perceived limitations, along with the blocking effect that occurs based on, for example, light source and heat sink placement, result in several shortcomings of conventional headlights.